Various attempts have been made to develop devices for cooking or grilling specialty food items, particularly for use with outdoor barbecue grills. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,855 to Avner describes a secondary grilling apparatus which comprises a flat sheet of metal with rectangular openings which clips onto the bars of conventional barbecue grills. The sheet provides a secondary surface for grilling with smaller openings. However, the device cannot be easily taken out of the barbecue grill when hot and does not permit easy turning over of food items.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,196 to Schlosser et al. describes a pivoting auxiliary rack which attaches to the perimeter of a barbecue grill and can be pivoted from the side attachment over the surface of the grill or off to the side for easy retrieval of cooked food items. The pivoting rack comprises a circular-flat grill with a rail around the edge to prevent food from falling off. The circular flat grill is similar to the main grill of the barbecue, but is held above the main grill by means of a pivot. The device suffers the same problems that a regular grill with longitudinal bars in that small food items easily slip through. Also, the device cannot be easily lifted out of the grill and shaken to turn over food items.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,846,941 to Goodwin discloses a barbecue basket which fully encases food items and is mounted on a spit, permitting one to easily turn cooking food items over for cooking on both sides. The device cannot be easily removed from the grill because it is mounted on a spit. Also, the device would not be suitable for small food items because the longitudinal bars create lengthwise openings through which small food items would fall out.
Other devices include the PLATINUM GRILLING WOK.TM. (sold by Charcoal Champion) which comprises a square bottom with trapezoidal sides that flare outward from their attachment to the square bottom. The wok contains some small circular openings to allow circulation of heated air and smoke. However, the wok contains no lid that permits shaking of food items to easily turn them over. In addition, the limited number of openings does not allow full circulation of heated air and smoke which are important for achieving optimum grilling flavor.
Still another device is the BARBECUE GRILLING GRID.TM. (sold by Charcoal Champion) which comprises a flat sheet with diamond-shaped openings and an upturned edge on one side. The grid cannot be easily lifted off of the grill, nor can it permit shaking of food items to turn them over without their falling out. It is essentially one-sided.